Every communist must grasp the truth: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”

The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.

The Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day.

The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.

The most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.

What experience and history teach is this—that nations and governments have never learned anything from history or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it.

Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.

Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

The affairs of the world are no more than so much trickery, and a man who toils for money or honor or whatever else in deference to the wishes of others, rather than because his own desire or needs lead him to do so, will always be a fool.

Envy is the basis of democracy.

I work for a government I despise for ends I think criminal.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

To be turned from one’s course by men’s opinions, by blame, and by misrepresentation shows a man unfit to hold office.